Improving our understanding of the resistance mechanisms of high risks cancers

Thirty five thousand children, adolescents and young adults are diagnosed with cancer every year in Europe; among them 20% will not be cured.

In the event of inefficacy of the first-line treatment, the orientation towards new therapeutic approaches and the understanding of the resistance mechanisms must be based on an in-depth analysis of the biological characteristics of the tumour and the analysis of the interactions between the tumour and the patient.

The project supported by KickCancer aims at allowing a full molecular analysis of the tumour upon diagnosis for the children and adolescents with a high risk cancer, thanks to advanced technologies, including high-debit sequencing. By analysing blood samples (including the circulating DNA of the tumour cells) during the treatment and follow-up, researchers can then keep track of the modifications of those molecular profiles.

This project will allow for a better understanding of the avoidance and resistance mechanisms to the standard treatments. In conjunction with other ongoing projects, the results of this analysis will enable doctors to swiftly redirect the patients towards the best therapeutic strategies.

This project will be led by the Institut Curie in Paris, in collaboration with the Institut Gustave Roussy. It was approved by the French association of onco-paediatricians (SFCE) and will be implemented in all approved centres in France. Belgian researchers will be involved in the project and data will be shared with them through a pan-European project about liquid biopsies. It is also financially supported by the French association Imagine for Margo and the Swiss organisation Hubert Gouin Enfance & Cancer.

Status update: The recruitment of the first patients started in April 2018 and as of 31 December 2020, 334 patients have been enrolled in the trial and analyses are now underway. This recruitment is in line with the target (600 patients in total). The objective is to recruit 120 new patients in 2021. The molecular and immunological analyses of the patients already recruited and the structuring of these analyses is underway. As the project is spread over six years, no concrete results can be reported to date.

Next steps: A second progress report will be drafted by a team of researchers from the Marie Curie Institute at the end of 2021 and thereafter, annually. The project will end in 2022.